Last Updated:November 22, 2025, 07:52 IST
Manu Kumar Jain faced severe pollution symptoms during a brief Delhi visit, highlighting the city’s hazardous air and prompting renewed calls for urgent action on air quality.
Manu Kumar Jain faced severe pollution symptoms during a brief Delhi visit, highlighting the city’s hazardous air and prompting renewed calls for urgent action on air quality. (Image: X)
Delhi’s toxic air has once again sparked alarm, with its hazardous pollution levels affecting everyone from longtime residents to short-term visitors. Among those hit hard is Manu Kumar Jain — former Xiaomi India head and now CEO of tech group G42, who revealed that just a few hours in the city left him battling classic pollution-related symptoms.
Jain shared an in-flight photo of himself wearing a mask after he was forced to leave Delhi earlier than planned. In a post on X, he wrote:
“Was in Delhi for a day for some important meetings, and realised how out of practice I am with the air pollution here. Within a few hours, my eyes were watering, my throat was burning, I kept coughing and even had a mild headache. I forgot my N95 mask, and hence the impact was even higher.”
“I was forced to take an earlier flight back. Experiences like this are a reminder that we still have a long way to go on air quality,” Jain said, adding that he wasn’t blaming anyone in particular.
Was in #Delhi for a day for some important meetings, and realised how out of practice I am with the air pollution here. Within a few hours my eyes were watering, throat was burning, I kept coughing and even had a mild headache (I forgot my N95 mask, and hence the impact was even… pic.twitter.com/GTzszgRMEH— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) November 20, 2025
Despite growing up in Meerut and studying at IIT Delhi, a city he says he “fell in love with” — Jain said this visit hit him particularly hard. The worsening conditions, he added, are a reminder that Delhi still has “a long way to go” when it comes to improving air quality.
He stressed that he wasn’t blaming any one authority or group: “All of us are to be blamed for this. But I sincerely hope we can turn this around and make a real change for our kids — so that they can grow up breathing cleaner air.”
‘If a healthy adult can’t last hours, imagine a child’
As Jain’s post went viral, hundreds of users echoed his concerns. Many pointed to children as the most vulnerable in Delhi’s ongoing pollution crisis.
“If a healthy adult can’t last a few hours, imagine what this does to a child who breathes Delhi’s air every single day,” one user wrote.
Another recounted a similar experience: “I came to India from Australia… within 20 minutes of a morning walk I was back in my car because my throat was hurting.”
Several others expressed frustration and resignation, with one commenter saying, “We can’t do anything because we including our governments are not good enough to know the difference between right and wrong. Nothing substantial is ever gonna happen.”
Delhi’s Air Emergency
Delhi is currently under GRAP-3 restrictions, which trigger sweeping pollution-control measures. These include:
A ban on most construction activities
Increased water sprinkling on major roads
Curbs on polluting vehicles
With air quality repeatedly entering the “severe” category, schools have shifted primary classes to hybrid mode as a precautionary measure.
First Published:
November 22, 2025, 07:52 IST
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